What’s the first thing you think of when someone says mobile device management? If your head starts spinning and you get dizzy, don’t worry, you’re not alone! Most of us don’t immediately think, ‘what is a software solution that helps business manage mobile devices?’ But that’s the correct answer.
Mobile device management (MDM) or enterprise mobility management (EMM) solutions help businesses optimise functionality, streamline maintenance, and increase security for mobile devices deployed in various business environments. Over the long haul, these solutions and platforms can save enterprises a lot of time and money.
In a previous blog post we dove a little deeper into the reasons why B2B enterprises should be using a MDM solution. You can check that post out here.But how do you choose the right solution for your organization? We might be able to put you on the right path – with such a crowded market, here are a few of the prominent options that make it simple to adopt and operationalize MDM and EMM.
AirWatch
Founded in 2003 and acquired by VMware for $1.5 billion in 2014, AirWatch is a recognized global leader in enterprise-grade mobility solutions, and continue to innovate and expand their offering. And for the fifth consecutive year, AirWatch was named a leader in Gartner’s latest EMM magic quadrant report.
Much of the platform’s success is predicated on how it’s built. Developed in-house from the ground up, AirWatch has strategically been designed as a single platform for EMM, enabling user-friendly support and management across every device, operating system and mobile deployment, from one central console. This approach makes it easy for enterprise IT departments to manage a broad – and often complex – range of requirements, platforms, devices and locations.
Need to scale? No problem. AirWatch can easily scale across new or existing systems for larger enterprises that need to manage thousands of mobile devices. Using AirWatch, Luxottica rolled out more than 7,000 iPads globally, as well as Bouncepad tablet enclosures in select stores, to empower their sales associates and provide improved shopping experiences for their customers.
Kioware
KioWare’s kiosk system software serves to lockdown your operating system, allowing organizations to restrict access to only the programs, applications and/or websites that have been previously "allowed" through the configuration. This enables organizations to confidently manage their devices remotely, while also providing useful information like device health, usage statistics, and more. From a MDM standpoint, KioWare turns any Windows or Android tablet or phone into a purposed device with the ability to lock users out of any non-authorised device activities. Additionally, KioWare supports a variety of peripheral devices (Chip and Pin Readers, RFID readers etc.,) in a secure manner. For more from KioWare, check out this post: Securely Rolling Out Your Tablet Kiosk Project.
Moki
Since 2012, Moki has helped innovative brands like Columbia Sportswear, Hershey and Marriot, enable and deploy tablet-based commercial devices worldwide. Using Android or iOS devices and accompanying tablet enclosures, Moki transforms them into purpose-built solutions that drive commerce for businesses. What makes Moki unique is that its cloud-based device control platform was built from the ground up to manage, support and secure tablet solutions in customer-facing scenarios. This has paved the way for some of the capabilities, which helps differentiate them from peers in the industry. Built on strategic partnerships, Moki can rollout any number of devices and provision applications, peripheral support, and settings, typically via a touch-less process. Similarly, hands-free, remote management makes it easy for users to change settings, update or push new content across their tablet kiosks once installed. Moki also provides full visibility into the health of a business’ device, apps, and peripherals to maximise up time and prevent downtime.
Soti
Also making it into Gartner’s EMM magic quadrant report was SOTI, who was listed as a visionary in the space. SOTI’s MobiControl is an end-to-end solution that manages mobile devices, applications, content, and security within a single management console. Additionally, the platform offers deep cross-platform support for both cloud and on-premises deployments like BYOD, corporate-liable, rugged and dedicated-purpose. If you’re an organization that really loves Android devices, then you should definitely consider these guys as they’re one of the leading EMM providers for Android environments. SOTI’s biggest differentiator is its MobiControl Android + technology, which lets the platform manage Android devices with a higher degree of control and configuration management capabilities. However, that’s not to say SOTI doesn’t play nice with everyone – customers can easily manage multi-OS, multi-vendor, and multi-purpose mobile business environments.
Stratix
Here’s a company that isn’t actually a MDM or EMM provider – Stratix offers a comprehensive managed mobile services portfolio to help enterprises enhance productivity, improve efficiencies and customer service through their mobile investments. Stratix manages the entire mobile lifecycle through planning, deployment, 7x24 support, reporting and analysis of customers’ mobile solutions. This includes rugged mobile devices, tablets, tablet enclosures and iPad kiosks, MDM, BYOD, mobile applications, and more. What does this mean specifically for MDM projects? Stratix will review and test an MDM or EMM solution for a customer before provisioning the hardware and enrolling the devices into the MDM platform, as well as setting up the end-user profiles and applications. Additionally, Stratix is partners with AirWatch and SOTI, as well as a number of other hardware, software, and telecommunication providers.
Selecting the right MDM or EMM provider can be a challenging process, especially with so many options on the market. It’s important for your organization to do a ton of research, understand your needs and aligning those with a provider that can help you get there. Have more questions about MDM and what it means for your business? Click here to get in touch with our team